EU leaders agree on plan for migrants

European leaders agree on a plan to share out the care of desperate people fleeing war and poverty in North Africa and the Middle East. Yiming Woo reports.

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Migrants continue to stream into Italy as European Union leaders agree on a plan to tackle the crisis. The scheme is on a voluntary basis for member countries to take in the 60,000 migrants who fled war and poverty in North Africa and the Middle East. Leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, debated the issue for seven hours. (SOUNDBITE) (German) GERMAN CHANCELLOR, ANGELA MERKEL, SAYING: "It was a very engaging, committed debate which reflects the importance of the topic. I believe the theme of migrants is the biggest challenge I have seen in European affairs in my time in office and we have already seen a wide range of challenges, from the financial crisis to the economic crisis, the euro crisis but here I see a giant task that we have to face." While the political deal is a breakthrough, implementing the plan still faces hurdles. The criteria to share migrants among member states must be decided by the end of July. It'll have to take into factors such as the size of a country's economy and population.

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